Forest walk at HortPark: Attacks spark hunt for monkey

Big alpha male believed to be responsible
Feng Zengkun Straits Times 7 Oct 11;

THE search is on for a monkey that is believed to have attacked three people over the past three weeks.

The large alpha male macaque is thought to have bitten and scratched three people at the Forest Walk in Hort Park, forcing its closure since Tuesday last week.

Hort Park and Southern Ridges assistant director Wendy Seah said the search has been unsuccessful so far, despite being expanded to include the nearby Kent Ridge Park.

The National Parks Board (NParks) said it is monitoring the situation and will decide by Sunday whether it needs to extend Forest Walk's closure.

In an interview with The Straits Times on Wednesday, Ms Seah said reports of monkey harassment at the park had increased significantly in the past two months. The spike in activity and the attacks were probably caused by a band of six macaques led by an aggressive alpha male.

NParks assistant director and macaque expert Benjamin Lee said the band was distinctive because macaques usually travel in packs of 20 or more.

Ms Seah said the recent attacks were the first to result in physical injury at Hort Park since it opened in 2007.

People The Straits Times spoke to said the creatures have become bolder in recent years, often foraging for food close to bus stops and playgrounds in parks and sometimes harassing people holding food, drinks or plastic bags.

Ms Seah and Mr Lee declined to comment on why the alpha male macaque at Hort Park may have turned violent, but noted that most of the recent attacks involved people carrying food and drinks.

They acknowledged that the monkey feeding problem at the park and other nature spots here has existed since long before the attacks at Hort Park.

'But it's possible that the situation just reached a tipping point,' said Mr Lee.

Ms Seah also noted that 'sometimes animals just go crazy'.

'Just look at Siegfried and Roy,' she said, referring to Las Vegas stage entertainer Roy Horn, who was attacked by his pet tiger in 2003.

Mr Lee added that the Hort Park macaque may have attacked if it felt its personal space had been invaded.

But Ms Tang Mae Lynn, 37, a marketing executive who was scratched and bitten by the animal at Hort Park, said she was not carrying food on Sept 18 and had stayed as far away from the macaques as possible.

'The baby monkey came towards me and my boyfriend because it was curious. It kept going around my feet and then it squealed and attracted the adult monkey. What was I supposed to do?' she said.

Ms Seah said officers at Hort Park have put up more signs advising people not to feed the animals.

Following the attack on Ms Tang, officers with sticks were also stationed at the Forest Walk to scare the macaques away.

Ms Seah said park officers had tried catching the macaques with baited traps when the number of harassment reports increased, but had been unsuccessful.

She acknowledged that the park officers' actions were 'reactive' but said: 'We can't go after the monkeys just because they might attack people. They belong here as much as we do.'

Macaque experts such as Dr Michael Gumert at Nanyang Technological University suggested widening the trails to create more space between the animals and people.

Dr Gumert added that people should move away from baby monkeys when they approach because the parents are invariably nearby and primed to attack to defend their young, even against innocent gestures.

'But the most important thing is to set up a macaque agency here to observe the creatures so attacks can be prevented,' he said. He also said NParks should have ground patrols that make sure people in parks behave properly around the macaques, by not carrying food or going too close to them.

Ms Seah asked that visitors keep the attacks in perspective when considering the animals.

'Every family has a black sheep. You wouldn't kill the entire family because of that,' she said.

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